ArticleJournal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences
Self-medication practices among female students of higher educational institutions in Selangor, Malaysia: A quantitative insight.
Article in Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- The pattern of self-medication practice among adult patients attending primary healthcare centers at NGHA in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Responsible Self-Medication Among Pharmacy Students: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey in Uganda.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2025Article
- Definition of self-medication: a scoping review.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2022Article
- Current self-medication practices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: an observational study.The Pan African medical journal · 2020Observational
- Attitude and behavior of clinical nurse towards self-health care: a cross-sectional survey.Annals of translational medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWorld Health Organization has defined self-medication as the selection and use of medications (including herbal and traditional product) by individuals to treat self-recognized illnesses or symptoms. The prevalence of self-medication is reported to be higher among female students.
objectiveTo investigate the awareness and self-medication practices among female students of higher education institutions in Malaysia.
methodA descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in four higher education institutes of Selangor, Malaysia. Convenience sampling approach was used to collect data from a sample 475 students. A "pretested" questionnaire was used as a study instrument.
resultsA total of 461 questionnaires were returned (response rate 97.05%). The prevalence of self-medication among female students in higher educational institutions was 57.2% (n = 262). The most common source of self-prescribed medicine was a pharmacy or clinics (n = 206; 45%). It was found that antipyretics were the most common medications used without doctor's consultation (n = 212; 89.1%). Analgesics and antipyretics (n = 79; 62.7%) were highly recommended by students to their family and friends. The common reason for self-medication was prior successful experience (n = 102, 81.0%). The majority of respondents (n = 280; 61.1%) reported that they believed over-the-counter medications were as effective as medications prescribed by a doctor.
conclusionThe prevalence of self-medication practice among female students in the sample of the four higher education institutions was moderate. More studies are required to generalize these findings across Malaysia.
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